It's The End Of The World As We Know It
by Kyra5972
Summary: Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off.  In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.
1. Everything Changes

**Title:** It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Summary:** Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.

**Pairings:** Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker

**Spoilers:** Up through most of 'The Big Bang Job' for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.

**Warnings:** None that I can think of.

**A/N:** Okay, yeah, so as soon as Hardison explained what the bomb would do, my first reaction was 'oh my god, it's the Pulse!' and so I just had to write something for it. This is what I came up with. Hope you enjoy it.

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**Chapter 1: Everything Changes**

A fake. It was a fake.

Hardison stared at the EMP bomb on the train in horror, jumping slightly when Parker spoke.

"What?" Parker asked, looking between Hardison and the EMP bomb in confusion. "Do you not know how to stop it?"

Hardison shook his head. "It's a fake," he stated softly. "This…this isn't the real bomb."

"What? What do you mean it isn't the real bomb?" Parker asked frantically, her eyes wide. "If it isn't real, then where's the real one?"

"I don't know!" Hardison exclaimed. "Damn it! We need to find-"

The rest of Hardison's sentence was cut off as the train's power suddenly cut out and there was a loud screeching sound, the train jerking harshly, causing Hardison and Parker to slam into the side of the compartment before crashing to the ground. Hardison reached out and pulled Parker close to him as he braced himself as well as he could. Everything in the compartment was falling down around them as they felt the train leave the tracks. Then they were both screaming as the train tipped and they were thrown around even more, Hardison doing his best to keep Parker from getting too injured. When everything finally settled, they looked around to see that they were sprawled on what had once been the ceiling.

"What was that?" Parker asked as she looked around the compartment in shock.

"The bomb…" Hardison said softly, more to himself than to Parker, before raising his voice and continuing. "It must have been the bomb, the real one. Someone must have set it off."

Horror crossed Parker's face as the implications of that statement set in. "Then that means…Oh God! Sophie! And Nate and Eliot! How do we know if they're okay? What if they're hurt?"

"They're okay," Hardison said as he pulled Parker in closer, both seeking and providing comfort. "They're okay. They have to be."

"SOPHIE!" Parker suddenly exclaimed as she pulled away from Hardison and scrambled for the door. "She was following along beside the train!" She jerked at the door to the compartment, trying to get it open for a moment before freezing and looking at Hardison with wide, tear-filled eyes. "What if we squished her?"

Hardison immediately shook his head as he got up and limped over to help Parker with the door, absently noting that he was pretty sure he had sprained his ankle and possibly cracked, if not actually broken, and definitely bruised, his ribs. Though Parker seemed to be okay aside from a small cut near her temple, so as far as he was concerned, his injuries were well worth it. "We didn't squish her," he said as he started pulling at the door, Parker quickly joining him. "I'm sure she's fine." He just hoped he was right.

A few minutes later, the door finally gave way and slid open far enough for them to slip out. Looking around at all the wreckage, it took them a moment to get their bearings, but when they did, they both let out sighs of relief; the train had rolled away from where Sophie had been driving.

They made their way back toward the tracks as quickly as they could, Parker supporting some of Hardison's weight so he wouldn't injure his ankle any further.

"PARKER! HARDISON!"

Parker and Hardison both froze for a second before they broke out in huge grins as they heard Sophie's voice screaming their names. Parker turned and beamed at Hardison and he nudged her toward the sound of Sophie's voice.

"Go, I'll be fine," he said.

Parker nodded. "We'll be right back," she told him before turning and starting to run in the direction of Sophie's voice, calling out for the older woman.

"SOPHIE!" Parker screamed as she ran up the embankment toward the tracks and Sophie. Seconds later she disappeared from Hardison's line of sight, though it wasn't long before both women appeared at the top of the embankment, hurriedly making their way back to him.

"Hardison!" Sophie exclaimed as she reached him, quickly giving the hacker a tight hug. "Are you alright?"

Hardison nodded. "Twisted my ankle," he replied. "A sprain at the most. But I'm fine. We need to find Nate and Eliot, though."

"They were at the warehouse when the bomb went off," Parker said as she and Sophie supported Hardison between them and they started back toward the road.

"So we head for the warehouse?" Sophie asked.

"Probably our best bet," Hardison replied. "Hopefully they'll still be there and not on their way to find us."

Sophie shook her head. "They're both smart enough to know to stay put," she said. "We were on the move, they'd have no way of knowing exactly where we are, but we know where they were. They'll stay put. Nate will make sure they do, as crazy as it will make Eliot."

"Let's hope you're right," Hardison said as they made it to the road and turned back toward the city. "And let's hope you remember how to get there 'cause I don't and my phone's fried now."

Sophie laughed softly as she shook her head in fond amusement. "Then I guess it's a good thing I know the way," she replied. "Though, it's going to be a long walk."

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Hope you all liked it.

**~ Kyra **


	2. That Damn Pacing

**Title:** It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Summary:** Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.

**Pairings:** Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker

**Spoilers:** Up through most of 'The Big Bang Job' for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.

**Warnings:** None that I can think of.

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**Chapter 2: That Damn Pacing**

"Damn it, Eliot!" Nate exclaimed. "Would you sit down?"

Eliot paused in his pacing long enough to turn and glare at Nate. "Sit down? You want me to sit down?" he asked incredulously. "I can't sit down! Parker, Hardison, and Sophie are out there somewhere and we don't even know if they're dead or alive!"

"I know that!" Nate replied, returning Eliot's glare. "You think I'm not just as worried as you are? Because I am. But I also know that we need to stay together. We have no way of communicating now if we split up. And before you say we can go look together, we have no idea of where to look; we don't know where they were when the bomb went off. But they know we were here, so this is where they'll come. In the meantime, all we can do is wait."

"I hate waiting," Eliot growled as he started pacing again.

"Really? I couldn't tell…"

Eliot shot a glare at the Italian in response to her deadpan remark. "Don't make me knock you out, because I _will_ do it."

Her mouth snapped shut at the dark look Eliot was giving her before she turned and slowly made her way to a stack of crates for enough away for her to be out of Eliot's way if the pacing turned out to not be enough for him.

Nate simply sighed as he watched his hitter continue to pace. He knew Eliot wasn't happy with the situation, hell, he wasn't either, but all that damn pacing was starting to make him twitchy. "Eliot!" Nate snapped in frustration. "Sit. Down." He huffed out a breath as he ran his hand through his hair agitatedly. "Actually, I don't really care what you do, just stop pacing already! Don't you know, oh, what's it called? Tai chi? Why don't you do that? It'll help you relax and anything is better than that damn pacing."

Eliot sent Nate a dark look before growling softly to himself and closing his eyes, taking deep breaths as he tried to forcefully calm himself and relax his body. Once he was a relaxed as he was going to get, he gracefully started the movements to a routine he knew so well he could it in his sleep.

Nate sighed in relief as Eliot finally stopped pacing. Now if only Sophie, Parker, and Hardison would get there, he'd be able to relax and try to figure out where they were going to go from here.

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**I know it's short, sorry about that. Though, most of the chapters in this fic are pretty short...just to give you fair warning...**

~ Kyra


	3. The Stray

**Title:** It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Summary:** Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.

**Pairings:** Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker

**Spoilers:** Up through most of 'The Big Bang Job' for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.

**Warnings:** None that I can think of.

**A/N:** Longer chapter! Yay!

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**Chapter 3: The Stray**

Two weeks later, Nate frowned as he looked around the disaster area that was his apartment. He wasn't surprised that the place had been looted. Or that Eliot had had to physically throw out the squatter that had decided the apartment was now his. Not after they had made it out of DC only to find that the EMP bomb was a lot more powerful than Hardison had thought it was. At first they had thought it was just the areas immediately surrounding DC that had been affected, but it wasn't. After the first week, the military had managed to take some semblance of control over the situation and set up a very basic radio system. That was when they had found out that it wasn't just DC and the surrounding areas that was affected, it was the entire US, as well as most of Canada and Mexico. The Pulse, as it was being called, hadn't quite reached Europe or Africa, but nearly all the ships in the Atlantic were left dead in the water.

Between the mass panic, the lack of vehicles, and the security checkpoints being set up everywhere, it had taken almost two full weeks for Nate and his team to make it back to Boston after Parker, Sophie, and Hardison had made it to the warehouse nearly five hours after the Pulse.

"Eliot, Parker," Nate said as he turned to look at the others, "you two are on food detail for tonight. Get as much as you can and we'll try to make it last. Hardison, Sophie, and I will work on cleaning this place up while you're gone."

Eliot nodded as he pulled a gun from the small of his back, checking to make sure it was loaded before heading back out of the apartment with Parker right behind him. He hated guns, but they had become a necessary evil after the Pulse. Other people wouldn't hesitate to pull guns on them to get what they wanted, whether it be for food, clothes, blankets, or on one occasion, Parker. It was that last one that was the deciding factor. They would easily hand over material provisions when faced with a gun, they weren't worth being shot over, but Parker was a different story. Eliot wasn't about to let anyone in his little family be hurt, especially Parker, and if that meant carrying a gun then so be it. Nate carried one as well now and Parker, Sophie, and Hardison were with one of them at all times.

Eliot and Parker moved as quickly as they could, gathering as much food and as many supplies as they could in an hour. Rules had been established early on, one of which being that no one was allowed to be gone longer than an hour at a time unless previously agreed upon. So food and supply runs only ever lasted an hour. But Parker and Eliot were good and quick.

Eliot stood on the lookout as Parker flitted about the abandoned store they were in, gathering up what she could. There wasn't much left, but they knew how to make do. Suddenly Eliot stiffened as he saw movement at the other end of the store, closer to where Parker was.

"Parker," Eliot started calmly, never moving his eyes from where he had seen the movement, "come on, time to go."

"But there's more…" Parker trailed off as she looked up to see that Eliot wasn't even looking at her and she nodded. "Okay."

Before she could take more than two steps, Parker was being yanked back and was suddenly half-sprawled on the floor and half-held against a small but strong body, a knife at her throat.

Eliot's eyes widened as he saw the boy holding a knife to Parker's throat. And he really was just that, a boy. No older than nine or ten, the boy met Eliot's gaze defiantly.

"Just let me take the food and supplies and I won't hurt her," he stated softly, never breaking eye contact with the older man.

Eliot held his hands up to show he was unarmed since he hadn't even had a chance to reach for his gun. "Hey, go ahead and take it," he said. "Just let her go. We don't want any trouble."

The boy stared at him with mistrust before quickly shoving Parker away from him and grabbing the bag of food she had dropped when he yanked her back. The boy had moved so fast, Eliot had barely been able to track it.

Parker quickly scrambled over to Eliot's side before turning to look at her assailant, her jaw dropping as she saw the small boy. "Oh," she gasped softly. Tilting her head, she looked at him curiously. "Where are your parents?" she asked.

The boy didn't answer but split his attention between Eliot and Parker now instead of focusing solely on the more obvious threat of Eliot.

"I'm Parker," Parker tried again, taking a small step toward the boy.

Eliot's hand shot out to grab Parker's arm. "Parker…" he warned, tugging her back toward him.

"Look at him, Eliot!" Parker exclaimed as she turned to look at him while pointing at the boy. "He's, like, nine! What if he's alone? We can't leave him alone!" She stared up at him with wide eyes, her lower lip poking out just a bit and starting to tremble slightly.

Eliot glanced at her and groaned softly. "Damn it, Parker! Stop with the face already!" he exclaimed before focusing all of his attention back on the boy. "Do you have somewhere to stay, kid? Someone to stay with?"

"Why do you want to know?" the boy asked defensively, looking like he was trying to decide if he should run or not.

"It's dangerous out there," Parker said. "You shouldn't be alone."

"I can take care of myself," he stated firmly.

"We can tell," Eliot muttered to himself before speaking up and addressing the boy. "That's not the point. You're a kid; you shouldn't have to take care of yourself. So if you need a place to stay, you can stay with us."

The boy eyed them warily for a moment before making the mistake of looking at Parker, only to see her giving him the same look she had given Eliot moments before. "What do you want from me?" he asked, though he took a small step closer to them.

Parker shook her head. "Nothing," she replied, before amending herself. "Well, I mean, you'll have to do your share just like the rest of us, but we're a team, we take care of each other."

The boy hesitated for a moment longer before nodding and lowering his knife, though he didn't put it away. "I…I'm Ben," he said finally.

Parker beamed at him. "I'm Parker, though I already said that. And this is Eliot. Now let's hurry up and get the rest of this stuff gathered up, we have to be back soon or the others will worry." And with that, she shrugged off Eliot's hold and made her way closer to Ben, the two of them quickly gathering anything they thought might be useful, though Ben watched Parker and Eliot warily as he did so. Finally they headed back towards Nate's apartment.

"You get to explain the stray to Nate," Eliot stated, glancing at Parker as they cautiously made their way back out into the streets and headed for home.

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Well, now you all know who the stray is! Hope no one was too disappointed.

**~ Kyra**


	4. Life Goes On

**Title:** It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Summary:** Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.

**Pairings:** Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker

**Spoilers:** Up through most of 'The Big Bang Job' for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.

**Warnings:** None that I can think of.

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Chapter 4: Life Goes On

"We're back!" Nate called as he stepped into the apartment with Eliot right behind them, both of them carrying large bags.

"How did everything go?" Sophie asked, looking up from the file she was reading.

"Good. We got everything," Nate replied before turning toward the sound of pounding footsteps coming down the hall they had built to connect Nate's apartment with the one next door in order to expand. "No running in the apartment!"

Ben and Parker both skidded to a stop in front of him. "Sorry," they chorused, looking utterly unrepentant.

"Here you go, kid," Eliot said as he tossed a small sack to the now-fifteen-year-old Ben. "Six month supply of Tryptophan."

"Thanks, Eliot," Ben said with a nod.

It had taken the boy a while to trust the team and let them in, but after Parker had found him during a seizure four months after he moved in they hadn't really given him much of a choice. They had taken care of him through the seizure, Parker holding on to him and refusing to let go until even the tiniest of tremors had disappeared. Then they'd sat down and made Ben explain what had happened and why he had kept it from them. He had done so reluctantly and was surprised when they simply accepted him and his past. The only things that had changed was that Parker became even more protective of him than she had been already, Eliot would spar with the young X5, and they now kept a constant supply of Tryptophan on hand. It also meant that when Leverage Consulting and Associates finally got up and running again almost three years after the Pulse, Ben was part of the team and allowed to help with the jobs, even though he had only been twelve at the time. His roles were always small, but since he was so young, he was often overlooked and that tended to come in handy more often than not. And when not on jobs, the team made sure that Ben had as much of a normal adolescence as possible. Though their standards of normal were probably a little skewed…

"Where's Hardison?" Nate asked, looking around and not seeing the hacker.

"New bulletin," Sophie replied, referring to the information hacks Hardison did. After the Pulse, corruption became even more prevalent, and there were only so many jobs Leverage Consulting could take on. Everything else, Hardison covered in his hacks, letting the public know what was happening through what was known as Black King, White Knights Information Bulletins. Recently, they had even started hearing rumors of a west coast equivalent known as Eyes Only.

Nate nodded as he sat down next to Sophie, giving her a soft kiss as he did, both of them ignoring the chorus of '_ewww_'s and gagging noises they got from the three others in the room.

"Honestly, you'd think they were all Ben's age," Sophie said with a fond shake of her head as they broke the kiss.

"I may not be Ben's age," Eliot said as he headed into the kitchen for a bottle of water, "but that doesn't make it any less like seeing your parents make out."

Parker and Ben nodded their agreement.

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Wooo! Time for Spring Break! No more school for a week! Though, unfortunately, I do have to major papers I have to start over break… :-( Hopefully I'll be able to fit some writing in there, too, though. Hope you all liked this chapter!

**~ Kyra**


	5. Check In

**Title:** It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Summary:** Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.

**Pairings:** Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker

**Spoilers:** Up through most of 'The Big Bang Job' for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.

**Warnings:** None that I can think of.

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Chapter 5: Check In

"BEN!" Hardison called from where he was sitting in front of his screens, an Eyes Only Streaming Freedom Video Bulletin playing on them.

"Yeah?" Ben asked, the nineteen year old poking his head around the door.

"I think you should see this," Hardison said as he motioned toward the screen.

Ben wandered in and flopped down in the seat next to Hardison just as the message started replaying. As it played, Ben's body went stiff and he shook his head. "No."

"_Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a Streaming Freedom Video Bulletin. This cable hack cannot be traced; it cannot be stopped. It is the only free voice left in this city. This is a message to those known as X5. You've been compromised. You're in danger. You know what to do. I repeat, you've been compromised. You know what to do. This message will repeat every hour on the hour until each of you has checked in."_

"That's not possible!" Ben exclaimed. "No one knows where I am, so how could I have been compromised? And what does he mean, saying we know what to do and that the message will replay until we've all checked in? Checked in with who? 'Cause again, no one knows where I am. I haven't talked to anyone from Manticore since the escape."

"Maybe it's not for you?" Parker suggested from behind him and Ben jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, he hadn't heard her come in.

Turning around, Ben saw not only Parker, but Nate, Sophie, and Eliot standing there as well. "Then who is it for?" Ben asked. "I mean, the escapees are the only ones who would need a warning like this. And how does he know about us anyway?"

"Maybe some of the others found each other and that's who it's for," Eliot suggested.

"And he could know about the X5s the same way we do," Nate said. "He might know one."

"Even if some of the others managed to find each other, it would have to be quite a few of them for the bulletin to mention each of them checking in," Ben said as he tried to work out just what was going on. After a moment he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I don't know where they are and they don't know where I am. That bulletin has nothing to do with me. I'm staying right here."

"We could always head out to Seattle," Hardison said as he looked at Ben. "I've managed to track Eyes Only that far, but I can't pinpoint him any further. Maybe if we're closer I can figure more out, then we could go see how he knows about X5s."

Ben shook his head. "After that bulletin, Seattle is the last place we need to be going," he stated. "If he's based out of Seattle, and he knows about us, you can bet Manticore will be interested in him, too."

Eliot nodded. "Seattle wouldn't be safe," he agreed. "We'll stay here, see if anything else comes of this and go from there."

Nate nodded, eying Ben and noticing how tense the teen was and how he was twitchy slightly from nerves and tension. "Why don't you and Eliot go spar for a bit?" he suggested, looking at the youngest in their little family. "It might help you relax a bit."

Ben nodded and left the room, knowing Eliot wouldn't be far behind him.


	6. Manticore Blows

**Title:** It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Summary:** Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.

**Pairings:** Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker

**Spoilers:** Up through most of 'The Big Bang Job' for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.

**Warnings:** None that I can think of.

**A/N:** Sorry this is almost a week late, FFN was being stupid and wouldn't let me in to the fic to update it... :-(

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Chapter 6: Manticore Blows

"Someone blew up a Manticore facility," Ben stated a few months later as he walked into the living room where everyone else was going over files for a new case.

"What?" The question came from all five of the room's occupants.

Ben nodded as he sat down. "It's being covered up as terrorists blowing up a VA hospital, but it was a Manticore facility."

"So it's probably time to reevaluate our plans to head out west," Sophie said as she looked around at the others.

"No," Eliot stated immediately.

"Why not?" Hardison asked, looking at the hitter.

"If any transgenics escaped before the place blew, it's going to be a witch hunt out there," Eliot replied. "The military is going to be trying to either round them up or kill them, and they'll probably go for anyone or anything with a barcode on its neck. No way is Ben going anywhere near that."

Parker scooted closer to Ben on the couch and wrapped her arms around him. "They can't have him," she stated firmly. "He's ours."

"I agree," Nate said, nodding. "For now we stay here. Hardison, see if you can get in contact with Eyes Only. Maybe he can give us a better idea of what's going on over there."

"And when he asks why I want to know?" Hardison asked, knowing that the other man wouldn't just give out the information they wanted.

"Tell them we have a personal interest in the situation and in taking down Manticore," Nate replied. "That should let him know we're on his side in this, or at least, not on Manticore's side, and it hints at the fact that we know a transgenic without confirming it. At the very least, it will get him curious."

Hardison nodded before standing and heading back to his computer room to try and contact Eyes Only.

"If things get much worse, I may have to go out there anyway," Ben said, looking at the others. "I won't just stand back and hide if the situation gets bad."

Parker made a little sound of disapproval and tightened her hold on Ben.

Nate nodded, though. "We know that," he said.

"And we'll be right there with you," Eliot stated, Parker, Nate, and Sophie nodding in agreement.

"Didn't think you'd be anywhere else," Ben acknowledged.

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Again, sorry for the late update. Stupid FFN... Next chapter will be up tomorrow, though, as long as FFN doesn't decide to be stupid again.

Only two more chapters to go…

**~ Kyra**


	7. You're Ours

**Title:** It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Summary:** Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.

**Pairings:** Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker

**Spoilers:** Up through most of 'The Big Bang Job' for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.

**Warnings:** None that I can think of.

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**Chapter 7: You're Ours**

"You guys really shouldn't be coming in here with me," Ben tried protesting again even though he knew there was no use. His family was coming whether it was a good idea or not.

"Shut up, Ben," Eliot said as Parker glared at him.

"We're coming with you," Parker stated stubbornly. "We don't know them, you're not going in alone. You're ours."

"What part of 'dangerous radiation' don't you guys get? That's all I'm wondering," Ben said quietly as they slipped into Terminal City. "Not to mention the fact that this place is surrounded by cops and National Guard."

"Ya know, when Eyes Only said things were getting bad, I didn't think he meant siege bad," Hardison said as they slowly but surely made their way past the barricade without being detected.

A few minutes later, they slipped through a final hole in a wall and into an open area, only to stop short as five transgenics turned and trained their guns on them.

"FREEZE!"

"Hey, whoa, not looking for trouble," Ben said as he moved in front of the others, raising his hands to show he was unarmed.

The transgenics looked at Ben weirdly before glancing at the others with him, then back at Ben, then at each other, before finally back at Ben.

"Alec?"

"Okay, this is weird…" one of the other transgenics said.

"What do you mean it's weird?" another asked. "It's creepy is what it is."

"Shut up, you two," the first one, a blonde girl, snapped. "Alright, you're coming with us. Let's go."

The other two who had spoken moved to flank the group as the blonde started leading them further into the city, with the last two remaining behind to continue covering the post.

It wasn't long before they reached what must be the command center of the city. The blonde led them to a small group that was standing near a bank of computers talking.

"Wait here," she said as she stopped a couple yards away before continuing toward the group on her own.

"Syl?" a woman with long dark hair asked as the blonde, Syl, approached.

"Hey, we have some newbies you're gonna wanna see," Syl said. "Though I'm pretty sure five out of the six of them are Ordinaries."

"Why bring them to us?" a man with glasses asked. "We get new arrivals all the time."

Syl turned back to where they were standing and motioned for the two that had stayed with them to bring them closer. "Yeah, well, I think I'll let you see for yourself."

As they approached, the last person in the group turned around to face them and Ben and the others stopped short at the sight of him, their jaws dropping.

"…There's two of you…" Parker said softly as they all stared at the man that looked almost identical to Ben.

"God help us all…" Nate muttered, which snapped Ben out of it enough for him to turn and glare at Nate.

Turning back to his double, Ben tilted his head slightly as he studied him before stepping forward to take a closer look.

"Ben…" Eliot said softly, caution evident in his voice as he eyed the other group, as well as the rest of the transgenics around them.

"Ben?" the dark haired woman asked, staring at Ben in wonder, taking a step closer as well. "Ben…it's me…Max."

Ben turned to look at her in surprise. "Max?"

"Wait, your sister Max?" Sophie asked as the group looked between Ben, Max, and Ben's double.

"Maybe we should all introduce ourselves?" the man with the glasses suggested. "I'm Logan Cale."

"Max," Max stated with a nod. "Or X5-452. Though I prefer Max."

"Syl," the blonde said. "X5-701."

"X5-494," Ben's double said, eyes still on Ben. "Alec."

"Ben," Ben returned. "X5-493."

"I'm Nathan Ford," Nate said before taking Sophie's hand. "And this is my wife, Sophie."

"Parker. Just Parker," Parker said. "Though I don't have a number."

"Eliot Spencer," Eliot said, shooting Parker the look that they all knew meant he still thought she was twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag.

"And I'm Alec Hardison," Hardison said introducing himself. "Though everyone calls me Hardison."

Parker finally stopped staring at Alec long enough to really look at the others, only for her gaze to stop on Logan as she started staring once again.

"Parker," Sophie chastised. "Stop staring. It's not polite."

"You're Eyes Only," Parker stated suddenly, her head tilting slightly as she kept staring.

Logan looked startled for a moment before looking at Parker curiously. "What makes you think that?"

"Your eyes," Parker said, the 'duh' very clear in her voice. "If you're going to focus on one single feature, you probably shouldn't focus on such a pretty one. You have very recognizable eyes. Though I suppose being someone like 'Hairline Only' wouldn't have quite the same impact…"

Alec snorted before he started snickering softly.

Ben smirked at him. "Oh, if you think that's amusing you should have heard her when Eyes Only first started his broadcasts and she wanted to know why Eyes Only," he said. "Some of the alternatives she came up with were pretty interesting."

"I tried to get Hardison to change his name, but he wouldn't do it," Parker said with a pout.

"Thank God for that," Eliot muttered.

Ben grinned at the others. "Yeah, otherwise we'd have Ass Only Information Bulletins instead of Black King, White Knights Information Bulletins."

"You're Black King, White Knights?" Logan asked as he looked at Hardison and the hacker shrugged.

"We all are," he replied. "I do the bulletins and computer stuff, but it's a group effort."

"And that's why you wanted to know about the stuff with Manticore and the X5s over here. Your 'personal interest' in the situation was Ben," Logan said.

Nate nodded. "We knew it wasn't safe for him to be out here, but we needed to know what was going on so we'd know if it came to the point where he couldn't just stand back anymore."

"Where have you been?" Max asked, looking at Ben. "Zack said he looked for you, but you were the only one of us he couldn't find."

"So that's what the warning was about," Ben said. "Zack knew where everyone was and Manticore somehow found out…"

Max nodded. "Everyone but you. Where were you?"

"Boston," Ben replied with a shrug. "I was there when the Pulse hit, met these guys about two weeks later and I've been with them ever since."

"He's ours," Parker said suddenly, reaching out and grabbing on to Ben's arm. "You can't have him. You have your own anyway!" She pointed at Alec.

"What's with that, anyway?" Hardison asked. "'Cause I gotta say…creepy."

"Manticore twinned some of us," Alec replied. "Not sure how many of us were twinned, but there's the two of us, plus Max and her twin, Sam, that we know of. And at least a few others from your unit 'cause I know Sam and I weren't the only ones that spent six months in psy-ops after you guys escaped."

"What's psy-ops?" Sophie asked.

"You don't want to know," Ben told her. "Why did you have to spend six months in psy-ops?"

"Re-indoctrination," Alec said. "They wanted to make sure that we wouldn't attempt to escape like you did."

"And since you have identical DNA, they weren't just going to leave it to chance," Nate said and Alec nodded.

"Exactly."

"So why are you all here now?" Logan asked curiously.

"It got bad enough I couldn't just stand back anymore," Ben replied.

"And we weren't about to let him come alone," Eliot added.

"You know Terminal City isn't safe for Ordinaries, right?" Max asked as she finally pulled her gaze away from Ben.

Nate nodded. "We know. But Ben's important to us, he's family. If it comes down to it, we'll leave the city and set up nearby and help from the outside."

"Well, if you're going to leave, you should probably do it now," Max said. "We're about to raise our flag and show that we aren't going anywhere, that we're taking a stand. Ben will be fine with us."

Parker glared at her and clung tighter to Ben. "You can't have him," she repeated. "He's ours."

"Don't worry," Ben reassured her. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." He looked back up at the others just in time to see a brief flash of something in Alec's eyes. Hurt? Jealousy? He couldn't quite be certain.

"We're not going anywhere," Eliot stated firmly. "Not until we have to."

"Are you going to do the flag raising now?" Ben asked. "Or is there some time before you do?"

"We're doing it at dawn," Max replied.

Ben nodded. "Good. In that case, I hope you don't mind if I borrow Alec for a bit. New twin to get to know and all."

"I'm free," Alec said before Max could reply.

"Cool, then let's go find somewhere we can talk," Ben said before looking at Parker. "Parker, sweetie, you gotta let go so I can go talk to Alec."

"I don't wanna," Parker pouted. "What if he decides they wanna keep you?"

"I don't think that's quite the way it's gonna go," Ben told her softly and she tilted her head up to look at him curiously. He cut his eyes over to Max, Logan, and Alec for a brief second and Parker followed the look. It didn't take long before she noticed what he was implying; Alec didn't quite fit in there, but maybe he could fit in with them.

Parker nodded slowly and reluctantly let go of Ben's arm. "Fine. Go. But they can't have you," she said sternly as she settled into Hardison's arms.

Ben smiled at her. "I know."


	8. New Family

**Title:** It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them; if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Summary:** Everything Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.

**Pairings:** Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker

**Spoilers:** Up through most of 'The Big Bang Job' for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.

**Warnings:** None that I can think of.

* * *

**Chapter 8: New Family**

A few hours later, as dawn crept closer and the transgenics prepared to raise their flag above Terminal City, Ben and Alec rejoined the others, both with smiles on their faces.

"Finally!" Max exclaimed. "It's almost dawn!"

"I know. But we had a few things to talk about and work out," Alec said with a shrug, his smile slipping but not quite disappearing.

"Well, let's get going. Everyone else is already up there," Max said.

As the group headed for the stairs leading to the roof, Alec grabbed Max's hand and pulled her to the side for a moment.

"Alec!" Max exclaimed in frustration.

"This won't take long," Alec said. "So just hear me out."

"Fine, what?"

"I'm leaving," Alec stated simply. "As soon as we get things in order here, as soon as it starts getting dangerous for Ben's family to be here anymore, I'm leaving. I'm going with Ben and his family. Depending on the state of things, we might stay in Seattle and help from outside Terminal City. But when they leave, I leave."

"What?" Max asked, staring at him in shock.

"I don't belong here, Max. You don't want me here, you simply put up with me," Alec said with a sigh. "You'll never forgive me for the fact that I'm the reason you and Logan can't touch, and because of that, you'll never accept me. They will. So I'm leaving."

Max simply stared at him in shock, not knowing what to say and after a moment Alec sighed again.

"Come on," he said. "It's almost dawn; everyone's probably waiting on us."

They made it to the roof just in time. As Max laced her gloved fingers with Logan's gloved fingers and Alec joined his new family, the sun crested the horizon and the transgenic flag was raised above Terminal City.

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**And that's the end... I know it's short, but I think it wrapped things up nicely. Hope you all liked it. :-)**

**~ Kyra**


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